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- Seafood and Red Wine
Would be interested in hearing from people here about any redwine and fish, crustacean, mollusk, etc. combinations they/you have found to work successfully. Having been initiated at the beginning of my wine tippling into the traditional white-for-fish, red-for-meat school of thought, I've since found that several reds and roses can work just fine with certain fish, though I still usually drink whites with seafood. One combination that works just fine for me is a lighter pinot noir with salmon and other oily fish (a Swiss pinot from Valais with smoked sea bass is one of my favorite meals in Genea...).
What prompted me to start this thread was an article I just read about research out of Japan on why people don't like the 'fishiness' that results from drinking reds with higher *iron* (!) content when eating fish.
http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2009/1022/2
Kinda interesting that they chose scallops for the seafood used in the test. Wonder what reds they were using....
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0390 - Reply by GregT, Oct 29.
I don't think about it all that often. But with rice that's full of chicken and seafood, a la paella, I always found Rioja to work wonderfully. I imagine a sangiovese based wine would be fine too. What I don't think really works well is a fruity wine like an Australian grenache or zin. But Chinon and some Cotes du Rhones and some of the Touraines I tried today work really well. Swiss pinot is along those lines too.
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048 - Reply by Charles Emilio, Oct 29.
I found this quote at http://www.pinotage.co.za/index.php?page=19
" At a recent tasting in an upmarket restaurant, a French sommelier chose a Pinotage, chilled to 12ºC, as the ideal companion to oysters! "
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48 - Reply by D9sus4, Oct 30.
When I lived in Spain, many years ago, I drank red wine with my seafood like everyone else there does. I still do, but I tend to like red fish like salmon or tuna, which I usually grill. Or shrimp cooked Spanish style in olive oil and lots of fresh garlic (Gambas al Ajillo). Here's the recipe, but I quadruple the garlic when I make it: http://www.myrecipe.org/top/detail/15
Rules are for people who need them. But, if I ruled the world...
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3027 - Reply by Philip, Oct 30.
I had a pinot noir with a peppery shrimp fettuccine last night - it was ok, but the pinot was too sweet and didnt work that well. The shimp was quite spicy, so would have worked better with a drier wine - a fuller bodied one would have been fine as well.
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1738 - Reply by Gregory Dal Piaz, Oct 30.
Pinot and Salmon
Syrah and Skate
Grilled Tuna and Pelaverga
Braised Tuna and Barbera
Grilled Octopus and aged Barolo
I think there are many specific wines that have worked well with certain seafood dishes for me. It does, however, get difficult to make a blanket statement recommending red wines with fish.
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43 - Reply by Robert Johnston, Oct 30.
Add trout to the salmon with Pinot - I actually think trout works even better. If it's provencal, you can even go to something from the southern Rhone or Midi.
I have to admit, though, I've never found a red that works with shellfish (mollusc or crustacean). Seems almost perverse to try, when you have a wealth of different whites that work just perfectly.
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- Reply by D9sus4, Nov 3.
re:Reply by Robert Johnston, Oct 30.
"I have to admit, though, I've never found a red that works with shellfish (mollusc or crustacean)."
Robert, I've been serving hearty reds with spicy shrimp dishes and seafood paella for years and never had a complaint. I usually prefer to serve a rustic red like a Granacha, or a Southern Rhone wine.
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43
- Reply by Robert Johnston, Nov 4.
Oh yeah, that makes total sense. I guess I was meaning shellfish au naturel as it were -- blanched langoustines, moules mariniére, oysters. That's what pops into my head when I think shellfish. But yeah, piri piri prawns or even grilled langoustines, anything with a bit more added flavour, Spanish reds would go great.
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- Reply by D9sus4, Nov 6.
Langoustines, oysters... Murphy's or Guiness Stout... can we call these barley wines?
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030 - Reply by TL NJ, Nov 6.
Dmckr - the shellfish is so hard to pair with reds, it just seems to go so perfectly with the whites. However, I've taken down some very good suggestions folks have written for you here, include the one you posted about the Swiss pinot!.
I dont know if you tried this or not - but consider the Dolcetto di Dogliani. It is a very light, food friendly red - slightly higher on the "bold" scale than a gamay, but still a bit lighter than some of the pinots and barberas. It is one of my favorite reds to pair with seafood, and just one of my favorites reds period. They do make some nice dolcettos from Alba as well, but I've found that the Dogliani region to be the friendliest with seafood.
Look for Francesco Boschis, Pecchenino, or Bruno Porro. I've also learned that the state of Oregon is starting to experiment with Dolcettos, but I have neither found them or tried them yet.
Give it a try and let me know what you think. It works well for me, im really curious to see how it does for others.
Cheers!
